Hugs
by InkDragons
Summary: Sakura explains to Sai what a hug is, and Sai puts his new knowledge to good use. Bad summary, hopefully decent story. SaiSaku Fluff. mostly friendship, with hints of romance
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I sadly do not own anything from Naruto

 **Hugs**

Sparks flew into the inky black of the night sky, mingling with the stars before fading away The firelight reflected in Sai's eyes as he looked at his teammate.

Sakura was sitting on a fallen log, arms looped around a raised leg, head resting on her knee. Emerald eyes were fixed on the crackling flames and she hadn't moved since they had set up camp an hour ago. She had only spoken to say that she would take the watch after Sai. That watch would start in a few hours, so he had expected her to retire to the tent with the rest of the team, but she had stayed put. Sai was meant to be on watch right now, but an attack was unlikely. They were returning from a mission that hadn't even taken them out of Fire country and had only decided to camp for the night when it had gotten cold.

"Hey, Hag," he called, using the familiar nickname. Sakura looked up, and he expected to see irritation, but she just stared blankly. She almost looked like she was in Root. It was a little unsettling, if Sai was being honest. She had been this way since the mission ended. Although she was never as loud as Dickless, she had been unusually quiet. Her being so silent left him feeling odd, like something wasn't right. He missed her usual friendly chatter.

"Yes, Sai?" she asked, expression still blank. Sai wracked his mind for something that would make her talk to him before alighting on an idea. She always liked to teach him more about how people interacted and he did have a few questions.

"Earlier today, what was that couple doing, after we told them?"

Sakura's brow furrowed. Finally, a reaction.

It took her a moment to think of what Sai was talking about. "They were hugging," she said flatly, remembering how the man had held his wife as she buried her face in his chest, moments after Sakura had spoken. The words had tasted like ash in her mouth, and to her horror, the taste still lingered, no matter how many times she took a drink from the canteen.

"Why? What purpose does that serve?" Sai asked. It was usually about now that Sakura would look at him in disbelief before realizing he really didn't understand something, and then begin patiently explaining.

"It's for comfort. She was upset, so he hugged her. It's a way to help people feel better."

Sai considered this, sitting beside her. She put her leg down and turned towards him, and he took that as a good sign. "Was he not also upset?"

Sakura nodded. "A hug can be comforting for both people."

Sai was silent for a long time, thinking it over. Sakura hadn't been right since they had completed the mission. It hadn't technically been a failure, but he knew Sakura wasn't happy with the result. They had been sent to a village on the outskirts of Fire to investigate a rash of missing children. It hadn't taken long for them to locate the group of thugs kidnapping children to sell on the black market. After capturing the ringleader, Kakashi and Sakura had found their base. Most of the children were bruised and weak, but alive. Only one, a young boy with soft blond hair, had been killed. Apparently he had died of blunt force trauma when he had been smacked into a wall by the kidnappers. Naruto had commented that he wished he knew who had done it, so he could punch his lights out. Sakura had been silent, but her eyes seemed unusually shiny. Sai's grasp on emotions in other people was not the best, but he thought she was upset.

He had once asked Sakura if they were friends. She had smiled and then assured him that they were. According to his book, friends comforted each other when they were upset. He didn't always have the best luck with taking advice from his books, but this seemed like a good idea. He wasn't sure he could take this new, sullen and silent Sakura much longer.

Sakura started when she felt Sai's arms wrap around her, pulling her against him. "Sai, what are you doing?" she asked, voice soft.

"I am hugging you," he said simply in that way of his that made it seem like it should be obvious. Sakura supposed it should have been, seeing as his arms were around her, holding her close, and his chin rested on her shoulder.

"Oh, why?" she asked, tentatively returning his hug.

"You are upset, so I am trying to comfort you." He paused. "Is this acceptable?"

Sakura nodded. Sai's posture was a little too stiff, and the angle wasn't quite right, but the effort was appreciated. Carefully, Sai raised a hand and began stroking Sakura's hair, fingers gliding over the soft, pink locks. He wasn't sure if that was a component in all hugs, but the man had stroked his wife's hair when he held her. It appeared to have a soothing effect, seeing as the woman's sobs had quieted down to soft crying.

Relaxing into the embrace, Sakura sighed. Somehow Sai, socially inept and emotionally oblivious ex-Root ninja that he was, had figured out exactly what she had needed.

After a while, Sai pulled away, meeting her gaze and trying to gauge if she was still upset. "Did that help at all?"

The corners of her lips lifted up into a soft smile, one that somehow managed to convey both lingering sadness as well as the promise that she was going to be better soon. "Yeah, I think it did."

 **AN:** More sad, sweet fluff. I will be doing another chapter of this story. It will continue with this whole friendship with a hint of romance. Other characters will make an appearance. Its written in my notebook, but I need to type it up and edit it. Hopefully it'll be up by next week. If it is not, well, life has kidnapped me and I'll try to get it up as soon as possible. I can't promise reviews will make me upload it faster, but it does serve as a very good motivator as well as making me very happy


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own anything.

The return journey to Konoha passed in relative ease. After that night, Sakura seemed to be back to her usual self. She smiled and chatted with the rest of the team. When Naruto or Sai did something stupid, she reacted just as she always did, with yelling and perhaps excessive violence. Naruto wasn't exactly pleased with his most recently acquired head injury, but he and Sai were relieved to see Sakura back to normal. Seeing her upset had been unpleasant for all of them.

They reached the main gate to Konoha at about midday. As soon as the gates opened, Hinata stepped through with a bright smile. Naruto called out a greeting before rushing to her side. He babbled about something as Hinata scanned him up and down, searching for injuries. Finding none, the smile on her face grew even broader. Within moments, his arms were around her waist, and her arms had twined around his neck, in a gesture Sai now recognized as a hug.

He turned to Sakura, dark eyes betraying only a hint of the confusion he felt. "Is Naruto upset?" he asked, thinking back to how Sakura had explained that hugs were used as comfort.

"No," Sakura responded, not quite understanding where he was going with this.

"Then Hinata-san is upset," Sai stated, though his voice still held a slightly questioning tone.

Beginning to realize what was going on, Sakura fought back a smile. It was always nice to see Sai figure out a little more of what it was like to be a normal person. "I don't think so, Sai."

"Then why are they hugging?" Sai asked, confirming Sakura's hunch about his line of questioning.

"A hug isn't just to comfort someone when they are upset. There are a lot of reasons for a hug." It still amazed her that Sai hadn't known what a hug was. Surely he had seen them before. Perhaps he had just never been curious about it, until now.

"What purpose does it serve here?"

"They missed each other, and Hinata is happy to see that Naruto is home safe," Sakura explained.

"Oh. But the mission was very low risk, and we were only gone a few days." Sai said this with a trace of irritation, because he still wasn't quite getting this. Sometimes he feared he would never really understand any social situation, no matter how many books he read or how much Sakura helped him.

"She's still happy that he's safe," Sakura said with a laugh.

"So the reason for the hug is relief and happiness that the other is unharmed?" Sai asked, wanting to be perfectly clear.

Sakura nodded. "Exactly. Plus, among close friends, there doesn't always have to be an actual reason. Sometimes people just want to hold someone and be held."

Sakura was about to go join their friends when Sai pulled her into a tight hug of his own, mirroring what Naruto had done. One arm was around her waist, hand resting in the small of her back, holding her to him. His other arm was around her as well, encouraging her to move closer. Sakura took a small half step closer, arms looping around him. His heartbeat thudded in her ear as her cheek pressed against his chest, and the medic part of her brain that never really turned off noted it was slightly elevated.

Although Sai worried social situations would never come easy to him, Sakura had always tried her best to be patient with him. That type of support, filled with friendship and a legitimate desire for him to be happy, was something he hadn't been able to find in Root. In fact, he hadn't been able to find anything quite like it anywhere. It was true he had other friends. For all their arguing, Naruto did seem to care about him, and through the blonde idiot and the pink haired medic, Sai had gradually been finding acceptance in other social groups. Despite that, there was just something special about his friendship with Sakura. He couldn't pin it down, couldn't for the life of him put it in the plain, straightforward terms he so enjoyed. All he knew was that extra little something made holding Sakura something he truly enjoyed.

A moment later, Naruto spotted them, blue eyes going wide. "Whoa, Sai, what's that all about?" he asked, releasing Hinata.

Sai turned to Naruto, still holding onto Sakura. "I am showing our teammate that I am happy she has returned home safely." This declaration was met with silence.

However, that silence included Naruto, and so could only last a few moments. Naruto put a hand behind his head, expression more than a little confused, though he still smiled. "Yeah, but our mission wasn't dangerous or anything. And you were with us the whole time anyway. So what's the big deal?"

"Sakura has informed me that hugs don't always have to have a reason, beyond that you wanted to hug someone."

Naruto continued to look baffled, but Hinata gave Sakura a knowing look. "Come on, Naruto-kun," she said, tugging lightly on his hand. "I thought it would be nice if we went to Ichiraku's now that you're back." The ramen lover didn't have to be told twice.

"That's awesome!" he said, nearly dragging Hinata in the direction of the restaurant. When he was about to be out of sight, he looked over his shoulder at Sai and Sakura. "When you're done being weird, meet us there, okay?"

 **AN:** As promised, updated by the end of the week. I'm not quite happy with this one, but I've fussed over it enough, I think. Anymore fussing and I'll end up hating it. Thanks to Fluehatraya, haechuu, and Anaid Rosero Belmont for the reviews. I love them.


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